Newcastle United and Brighton split the points at the Amex Stadium.
Newcastle United were without their top players Jamaal Lascelles and Miguel Almiron, but that did not stop them from claiming a point against relegation-threatened Brighton. It was a tale of two halves at the Amex Stadium as Newcastle dominated the first 45 minutes of action while Brighton forced the Toon to defend in the second half.
First Half
The early stages of the game witnessed both teams trading possession and testing the waters, and this was reflected in the fact that the first meaningful chance of the game came in the 17th minute when Newcastle scored the opening goal. A beautiful cross from Paul Dummett found Salomon Rondon who chested the ball off to Ayoze Perez and the Spaniard scored his 11th goal of season.
20 minutes into the game, Brighton still had zero shot attempts in a game where they were expected to play with plenty of urgency. Newcastle should have had a penalty kick in the 20th minute of action when Rondon was tripped inside the box, but Mike Dean allowed play to go on.
Perez picked up a knock on his hip in the first few minutes of the game, but kept playing through it and even scored a goal while limping. However, he motioned for a substitution in the 32nd minute and was replaced by Kenedy.
Interesting scenes occurred at the Amex Stadium in the 34th minute as the home supporters roared boos at their own team for failing to apply any pressure on the Toon. In the 35th minute, Schar was able to maneuver past two defenders to get in a one-on-one situation with the Mathew Ryan, but the keeper was quick to snag the ball away.
The Magpies dominated the first half and it was easy to do so seeing that Brighton gave the visitors plenty of time and space to spread the ball around and create some chances. Brighton did not create a single attempt and they only touched the ball once in Newcastle’s penalty area. The Magpies, on the other end, scored a goal, created four chances and completed over 300 passes.
Second Half
The second half got off to a more lively start as both teams focused more on attacking. Newcastle earned a corner kick in the 50th minute, but Isaac Hayden’s shot was deflected by a defender’s arm, however, Mike Dean turned his back and let play continue.
Brighton took their first shot of the game in 53rd minute, but Glenn Murray’s header went way wide. Brighton started to wake up after that moment as they continued to attack down the flanks. The home side almost scored the equalizer in the 60th minute, but a headed attempt went in the side netting.
Brighton created two more chances in the 61st minute, but Newcastle’s defenders blocked both attempts before they turned into dangerous shots. Pascal Gross came close to scoring in the 63rd minute, but Martin Dubravka beat him to the ball.
Ki Sung-yueng replaced Jonjo Shelvey in the 73rd minute to throw some fresh legs in midfield to help contain Brighton’s attack. Two minutes later, however, Brighton scored the equalizer as Pascal Gross scored a header after ghosting past two Newcastle defenders. It was Brighton’s first league goal since March 9th.
Brighton almost scored the winner through Murray in the 90th minute, but his header just went over the bar. Brighton were undoubtedly the better team in the second half. The Seagulls created nine chances, maintained most of the possession and applied pressure on both ends of the pitch.